May 23, 2012

D.A. Under Fire For Composition Of Panel On Haredi Witness Tampering And Intimidation

Earlier this week, Brooklyn's District Attorney Charles Hynes agreed with former NYC Mayor Ed Koch's suggestion to form a task force to combat intimidation of witnesses in haredi child sexual abuse cases. And then Hynes stacked the task force with his own employees and refused to meet with a leading victims' advocate.

Charles Hynes, right, and unidentified rabbi, Brooklyn, 1994

Originally published at 9:35 pm CDT 5-22-2012

Brooklyn’s D.A. Stacks The DeckTask force to deal with haredi witness tampering and intimidation to be filled with Hynes croniesD.A. refuses to meet with leading victims’ advocateShmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Since Brooklyn’s DA Charles Hynes agreed with former NYC Mayor Ed Koch’s suggestion to form a task force to deal with rampant haredi witness tampering and intimidation, rumors have swirled that Hynes had stacked the composition of the task force, filling it with employees loyal to him and blocking participation of outside experts and representative of the abuse victims themselves.

Dr. Asher Lipner, a psychologist and leading victims’ advocate, wrote Koch. According to a report by Hella Winston in The Jewish Week, Lipner told Koch that many victims’ advocates “find it troubling that the district attorney, who has never reached out to work with us, has not taken the opportunity [to do so] now that he is creating [this] task force.…[the] choices Mr. Hynes has made for his task force do not reflect a willingness to work with anybody that is truly independent of his office, and [who are] therefore are beyond the scope of community politics.”

Koch sent another email to Hynes, Winston reported, telling Hynes that he thought his “statement to the [New York] Times reporter and that of your press secretary [about the task force] were inadequate and far too limited in outlining the composition of the committee you plan to have address the problem.” Koch urged Hynes to “meet with Asher Lipner and to add to your committee law enforcement personnel who currently have worked with groups similar to the hasidic, such as the Amish.”

Hynes declined to meet with Lipner, Winston reported.

Winston provided several examples mentioned by victims’ advocates and victims (there are many, many more) of haredi witness intimidation and tampering that Hynes has failed to prosecute:

• In a speech at the 2006 convention of Agudath Israel of America that was tape recorded by an audience member, Rabbi Matisyahu Salomon, the mashgiach ruchani at Bais Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, N.J., said that there are times when it is good to sweep abuse allegations under the carpet. Salomon cited the case of Rabbi Yehuda Kolko, whose more than 30 year history of child sexual abuse had recently been exposed by New York Magazine. Salomon compared people who speak out publicly about child sexual abuse [or who blog about it] and haredi rabbis who fail to silence them to the Wicked Son in the Passover Haggadah. Salomon said that the correct response to this “wicked child” is to “knock out his teeth” (“hakei es shinav”), which he said would mean shunning those exposing child sexual abuse and expelling the children of the people who publicized the Kolko allegations from attending communal schools.

• In a sworn affidavit, the parent of one of Kolko’s victims alleges that Rabbi Lipa Margulies, the head of Yeshiva Torah Temimah (the school where Kolko had allegedly abused the man’s son), told him that he (Margulies) could not be responsible for the family’s safety if his son kept telling people about the sexual abuse he suffered at Kolko’s hands.

• In February of 2006, Eli Greenwald (a Torah Temimah alumnus who is a son of one of the yeshiva’s founders and whose son was then a student there) was served with a summons to a beit din (haredi religious court) issued by Rabbi Yisroel Belsky. Belsky is the co-halakhic authority for the Orthodox Union’s OU Kosher, and he is also is the head of Yeshiva Torah Vodaas in Brooklyn. The summons, called a hazmanah in Hebrew, demanded that Greenwald answer the charge of hotzoat shem ra (slander) allegedly committed by Greenwald against Kolko after Greenwald called Torah Temimah to investigate allegations that Kolko was abusing children. Greenwald agreed to have the issue heard in beit din [but chose to go to the Beit Din of America, which is associated with the largely Modern Orthodox Rabbinical Council of America and whose judges are often attorneys.] Belsky and Kolko never answered Greenwald’s response, causing many in the community who knew about the matter to view the initial summons as an act of intimidation by Belsky. [Margulies and Kolko also ignored summonses from Monsey's Mechon Lehora’ah beit din and from Agudath Israel of America.]

• The mother of an alleged victim of Rabbi Nechemya Weberman went to the son of the Williamsburg Satmar Rebbe and another rabbi and told them what had happened to her daughter. Teitelbaum allegedly responded that “we are still Yiddishe kinder and for this Weberman doesn’t have to sit in jail, we will take care of him and he will never do this again, and do not hinder us from protecting him.”

Last week, more than 1000 hasidim filled a catering hall in Williamsburg to donate money to Weberman’s legal defense fund. Posters for the even showed a missile about to strike the hasidic community and called the allegations made by the alleged victim of Weberman “a libel.”

The girl’s boyfriend was allegedly threatened after he refused to accept a large bribe to induce the alleged victim to drop the charges, and his restaurant’s kosher supervision was reportedly withdrawn.

Hynes has not reached out to victims’ advocates and several victims or their families have publicly complained of shoddy treatment from Hynes’ office.

Hynes has not prosecuted a case witness tampering and intimidation against victims of haredi child sexual abuse in more than a decade, even though he himself admits the problem is rampant. Hynes has publicly described the problem of witness tampering and intimidation of haredi child sexual abuse victims as being worse than the intimidation and tampering suffered by witnesses against the Mafia.

Hella Winston is not reporting fully on the Eli Greenwald story. Greenwald outsmarted them by saying he has a right as the defendant to choose any beis din he wants. He picked the modern orthodox RCA's Beit Din of America where the dayanim are also attorneys and will immediately call authorities if they learn of child abuse. When Belsky, Margulies & Kolko tried to quietly slink away, Greenwald issued them hazmonos which they ignored. Margulies & Kolko have also ignored hazmonos from Monsey's Mechon Lehoraah & from the Agudah. The halacha in Shulchan Aruch is someone who ignores 3 hazmonos is automatically excommunicated without any formal act required by the beis din.

Greenwald was also brushed off by Ohel's Rabbi Dovid Cohen who refused to intervene.

Greenwald was repeatedly bashed in public by Kolko's friend Rabbi Lipa Geldwerth in the Shabbos morning sermons in his shul. Geldwerth is an employee of both Margulies and Artscroll. Greenwald was essentially forced to remove his children from the school.

The internet is indeed taking away the illegal & inhuman power of the Rabbis such as the Chiefrabbi Ahron Schiff from Antwerp Belgium, (Belze Chasid) who is some time now joining forces with Satmar, and especially in the case of his family and relative MENACHEN DEUTSCH of Borogh Park known to have been caught red handed kidnapping 3 haredi children in one single afternoon jailed then in the Belz synagogue (50th stereet & 15th ave) basement toilet Assaulted and raped them in a manor that even shocked the NYPD and is beyond any human imagination, Rabbi Aron Schiff from Antwerp Belgium is the one who is Threatening and Tempering with the witnesses, and their family’s not to cooperate with Authorities ,
Since he is operating from Belgium/Europe the US Authorities probably cant do anything about it.
One of the victims is a boy, the grand son of Bobover rebbie, Reb Benzion 48st.

The Brooklyn DA's office continues to do what it has done for decades, routinely handling abuse cases in the Orthodox community so that offenders do not serve jail time, do not have publicity and, since the establishment of sex offender registries, ensure that Orthodox sex offenders avoid being registered (or at least put on the public registry).

This is how it was done with Rabbi Yehuda Kolko recently just as it was done with Rabbi Lewis (Lipa) Brenner a decade earlier. No jail time no requirement to register on the public sex offender registry. Nothing has changed. The DA's office routinely takes advantaged of the families of abused children and pushes them to accept these sorts of outrageous deals claiming it is to "protect" the survivors/victims.

The Brooklyn DA's office was run for 13 years by District Attorney Eugene Gold, one of Hynes' predecessors, who was charged with raping the 10 year daughter of another district attorney. Gold confessed to a lesser charge of fondling and agreed to undergo psychiatric treatment to avoid prosecution and jail time. This is the routine way of handling abuse cases in the general community for decades and continues to be the routine way abuse cases are dealt with in the Orthodox community.

This is Hynes' legacy. He cannot be trusted. He is unrepentant. He must go.

Dr lipner would be a great choice for this panel being that he has been a leading and outspoken advocate on this issue,However more important is the total revamping of the kol zedek office with asst district attorneys and trained police handling the intakes rather then untrained civlian employees.Senior staff of the D.As office have promised us advocates many times of this important process but has not kept their promise

It isn't going to matter. There is a kind of mental intimidation that can't be prosecuted by any "task force". Your child and other children won't be able to get into schools, no one speaks to you on the street, your not welcome in Shul. And the victim? Is he/she not going to be welcome at school? Other kids can be cruel. He's out of the community now? Which according to some of these posts, is the best thing? If the child stays, where is he sent, Rav Bina in Israel? I wonder. Do you think that after all this "now we know what happens to those that speak out"...will speak out now? The fundraiser in Williamsburg. It's a mental intimidation, as well as all else. Three things the Rav tells you, should you go..or years ago was said...1) you don't tell, 2) it's an embarrassment to the community, 3) no one will believe you. How is it that the Rabbis can decide on what is legit., when according to the Torah, there are some things...that are nothing at all. To those that think going to the Rav is the first place to go. The consideration I believe on releasing names of those prosecuted, including, those "charged"? Not proven guilty yet? The community will find out the victims names, not days, hours, if the names are released. Not that they are not easy to locate now, on high profile cases. They will stand in the courtrooms, they will intimidate, in many different ways. That's the reality. The victims, are victims all over again.

If you know some history in NY State politics, you'll know it's highly unlikely that Andrew Cuomo will do anything to sideline Charlie Hynes. Because Andrew's father Mario Cuomo aka the Sfacim (pronounced Sfatcheem) is an old friend of Hynes. Mario appointed Hynes as a special prosecutor which gave him the momentum to win the election as Brooklyn DA.

Ed Krotch also rarely does a good deed unless it is political payback against someone else. Koch still holds a bitter grudge against the Sfacim for running a campaign slogan against him of "Vote for Cuomo, not for the homo". Koch also used his endorsement of Bob Turner for Congress as revenge against the Weprin family. There was a lot of bad blood between Koch and David Weprin's father Saul.

One more interesting connection. Koch has a desk at the Bryan Cave law firm. Another Bryan Cave attorney is the son of a rabbi in Boro Park. That rabbi's shul is where Lipa Brenner took a child to rape in the bathroom. Despite Brenner's conviction of child rape, Hynes made sure that Brenner never sat a day in jail. Brenner at the time of the rape was Vice President of Iggud Harabbonim whose lay leader Ben Barber holds fundraisers in his home for Hynes election campaigns. Brenner is also a close friend of Rabbi Belsky. Brenner was forbidden to enter Yeshiva Torah Vodaas by Rabbi Avrohom Pam. Rabbi Belsky reportedly tried to get Brenner readmitted after the death of Rabbi Pam.

Hynes' mentor and former boss was convicted and confessed pedophile Eugene Gold. Gold was his advisor for many decades. Here he publicly praises this low life pedophile. Understand who Hynes is? A protector of pedophiles.

http://www.brooklynda.org/News/press_releases%202002.htm
...
REMARKS OF DISTRICT ATTORNEY CHARLES J. HYNES
INNAUGURATION CEREMONY
BROOKLYN BOROUGH HALL
JANUARY 9, 2002
....
In 1968 the Country was reeling from its first surge in crime of that Century. Although the apparent crime wave would never come close to the pubic safety crisis of the crack-driven 1980's, a slogan was developed and used repeatedly by all candidates for political office – that rallying cry became, Law and Order. In the same year a prominent New York City trial lawyer was chosen to run for the office of Kings County District Attorney. During his campaign, he added one word to that slogan, which came to embody the goals of his administration and mine. The word was Justice, and so his campaign promise, which he later fulfilled became; Law and Order with Justice. He was my mentor for the six years I was fortunate to serve in his Office, and he has been one of my most important advisers ever since. Please welcome the three term former District Attorney of Kings County, Eugene Gold.
...

Posted by: Shmarya
------------------
Shmarya, I think you're making a mistake. There are a few Appels, One Appel has an org called Am Echad (not Avi Shafran's Am Echad but a different one) that did abuse stuff for a while.

The only way to stop Hynes is to bring in the Feds. There are way too many political bedfellows in NY State to effectuate a satisfactory resolution. Even Mike Bloomberg after he is finished mumbling a few words for public consumption, will do squat.

Ben Barber also needs to be neutralized. He owns Elegant Linen in Boro Park. When one of his showrooms was located in the Avenue Plaza Hotel on 13th Ave he was reportedly heard bragging around the hotel lobby that he is the point man for all the sects to get molesters off the hook. When he was questioned about his efforts on behalf of a Chassidish horndog who fondled a Hispanic woman on an elevator, he is quoted as saying that it is not his job to know who is guilty, only to make sure they never end up behind bars.

Lipa Brenner is the father in law of Ephraim Bryks. Bryks runs another private beis din together with Belsky and the Queens Vaad's Rabbi Peretz Steinberg. They act as corrupt hired guns to the highest bidder, usually in messy divorces or other dirty affairs. In one case they stepped on the toes of the National Council of Young Israel who came after them with attorneys and forced them to back off.

Bryks uses these opportunities to "counsel" women going through a divorce. Rabbi Yosef Blau has warned that women should stay away from him. Bryks maintains close ties to the Queens Vaad despite their public posturing of dropping him from membership.

ANON I AM NOT WITH HYNES I AM WITH THE PEOPLE WHO WANT REAL JUSTICE
Posted by: MARK MEYER APPEL THE VOICE OF JUSTICE | May 23, 2012 at 12:16 AM
-----------------
oops. sorry.
How can hynes steal your name? Thats crazy and has to be not legal. I bet you can sue him and force him to stop using your kol zedek name. Lets see him defend himself against that! Shmarya, write a post about this.

In 1983, former NY District Attorney Eugene Gold was charged with raping the 10 year old daughter of a colleague. Gold plead guilty to sexually abusing the 10 year old girl and only received probation and moved to Israel.

In his innauguration ceremony in 2002 current District Attorney Charles J. Hynes publicly honored pedophile Eugene Gold.
....
In the same year a prominent New York City trial lawyer was chosen to run for the office of Kings County District Attorney. During his campaign, he added one word to that slogan, which came to embody the goals of his administration and mine. The word was Justice, and so his campaign promise, which he later fulfilled became; Law and Order with Justice. He was my mentor for the six years I was fortunate to serve in his Office, and he has been one of my most important advisers ever since. Please welcome the three term former District Attorney of Kings County, Eugene Gold.

...

Send a message to Charles Hynes and the rest of the "fixers" in Brooklyn who have protected Brooklyn's pedophiles for decades. It isn't 1983 anymore and child rapists belong in jail not as honored guests at the DA's innauguration ceremony. Vote Hynes out of office. End his pedophile protecting legacy.

The Torah calls anshei Sdom "Rai'm V'achataim L'Shem", it eclipses The rasha of the Hagaddah by far. It is encumbent on all of us that truly care about our young children victims rather than the perpetrators to ask the Rabbi of lakewood, Rabbi, "Meheichan Dantani", indeed, it states, "Vehoelokim yavakesh et hanirdaf", ??? It seems, Hynes banded together with those that have the power to gather and deliver to him the VOTES. VOTE him out, it is YOU actually, who truly has the power to restore order and safeguard OUR TAYERE children. Rmember, your influence counts, use it!

Long live Mark Mayer Appel, a truly devoted Advocate for the downtrodden, abused, victimized YOUNG children and their families.

There will never be justice or accountability for this kind of thing in America. The idea that we are all equal under the law is completely gone. They're all sodomites, they have each other's best interests at heart. They'll propagandize or they'll occasionally make token gestures but they will never, ever force any real or lasting change. Just accept that if you choose to have a child in Brooklyn, it must be passed over the fire of Molech (MBP) and used as a sexual object if someone higher up decides to use him or her. Just meat. That's all you're producing there in Brooklyn. This is Haredi leadership.

Has there ever, in the history of klal yisroel, been a leadership that has been as throrougjly hated by its own people as these wretched impostors?

Indeed, a few days after his NY1 interview, Hynes himself appeared to backtrack. In a May 20 interview on WABC radio, the DA admitted that if a rabbi counsels an ultra-Orthodox Jew not to report abuse but does not threaten that person, “there is nothing I can do about that.”

....

Under New York State Law, social workers and mental health therapists are classified as so-called “mandated reporters,” with an absolute legal obligation to report to law enforcement authorities when they suspect child abuse may have occurred. But Zwiebel has stated that mandated reporters who are members of the Orthodox community are also not exempt from obtaining rabbinic permission first.

Zwiebel said the rabbinic imperative to assess claims before reporting them to police was similar to what he characterized as a requirement for teachers and therapists to establish “reasonable suspicion” before reporting a case to law enforcement under New York’s mandatory reporting laws.

But state guidelines issued pursuant to those laws set the bar much lower. A mandated reporter does not even need a child’s claim of abuse to go to the police. “Your suspicion can be as simple as distrusting an explanation for an injury,” one of the guidelines states.
...

Here's what I am trying to figure out. The predilection of the DA 's office in Brooklyn to forebear from serious investigation, prosecution and punishment of pedophiphiles, abusers and intimidators in the ultra orthodox community is clear. What other groups, if any, do they also treat this way? Themselves? I know Hynes has an agreement with the Catholic church. Prior to that were they also treated similarly?

its time for jews who abhore child sex abuse, to sign a petition to the president of the U S A. this petition should far exceed ,in number the signatures for dear rubashkin, presently in otisville.Surely mr failed messiah you should be able to kick start such a petition,.? perhaps the d a will then re think his plan.secular jews not only in new york but abroad are being swallowed by chabad and other hardei. i am speachless by what i read about the chabad filth in australia, a country of closeted people who are supposed to obey their nations nanny rules.

With regard to what Rabbi Solomon said at the convention, can somebody please post his exact words? I'd love to know exactly what he said, not that I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt.

with regard to Rabbi Dovid Cohen declining to intervene, didn't he claim to have authored the Open Letter to Rav Mattisyahu Solomon which detailed close to 40 years of Kolko's abuses? But he didn't intervene when he had the chance? Doesn't sound like him. He's a bull who brings his own china shop with him wherever he goes. (I stole that from Winston Churchill).

>With regard to Eugene Gold, he admitted
>to fondling a 10 year old girl. In
>Tennessee, that made him guilty of rape
>in 1983 (talk about tough laws).

Gold raped the 10 year old girl. He was investigated and charged with rape. He made a deal to plead to a lesser charge of fondling to avoid jail time. He still is a confessed/convicted pedophile and child rapist. Gold is also Hynes mentor, former boss and long time advisor.

Rabbi Dovid Cohen is a known protector of pedophiles. He is close to convicted/confessed pedophile Rabbi Lipa/Lewis Brenner's family and has protected Brenner and Bryks. I have no idea what you are talking about any "open letter". I think you have your "facts" completely mixed up.

I know where Lawrence Reisman is coming from. Rabbi Dovid Cohen has taken a stand, and a very forceful one at times, against SELECT molesters. The Chassidish world hates his guts for giving the psak to report Hafner from Bobov to the police. He has given similar green lights in other cases. It all depends on the politics de jour, who is asking and who is being reported.

In the case of Eli Greenwald, RDC weaseled out by accusing Greenwald of being "biased" against Margulies. It was a ridiculous excuse. It's not clear what his real motivation to inaction was.

RDC did NOT author the open letter to RMS. If anything, he threatened abuse victims at Yeshiva of Brooklyn that he will retaliate against them if they seek help from the same activists who brought down Kolko.

RDC incidentally has a bad habit and a long track record of making up his mind without hearing both sides of the story.

It also may be of interest to look into why RDC does not duchen. It may explain some of his behavior.

With regard to the open letter, then who wrote it? With regard to why RDC doesn't duchen, it's because he's not a kohain. Some jerk at Ellis Island gave the name Cohen to his father or grandfather because he couldn't pronounce or write his real name. With regard to Eugene Gold, go back and read the New York Times articles from the period. Had Gold really raped the girl, Tennessee justice wouldn't have let a NY Jew off with just probation. As the Times reported at the time, if you fondled a minor below a certain age, you were deemed guilty of rape.

The open letter was written by a former "insider". There were a number of card carrying Agudaniks who quit the organization in disgust due to the Kolko cover up. Most notably after the meeting where the Agudah decided to follow advice from slimy lawyers over the furious protest of Rav Pam.

I don't know what the chalal rumor is, but 100+ years ago, a lot of East European Jews with long or unpronouncable names were give names like "Cohen" and "Levy" by the clerks at Ellis Island. I know a Leavitt who is a kohain, and a Kohn who is a Levi, not to mention numerous Cohens and Levys who are neither. It was a common phenomenon. And please remember Sean Ferguson.

Jewish Whistle Blower, you wrote, "The prevelance of pedophiles and abuse is the same in all religions and groups. The dynamics of how the group deals with abuse varies."

You may be right about the prevalance of pedophilia, though we don't know for sure because there is no scientific quality data on the orthodox community.

But let's conduct a thought experiment and assume pedophelia inevitably affects the same percent of adults (let's say 3%) in all communities. If one community prosecutes while the other covers up where will there be more kids abused?

Here is another question. The haredi community has a much higher ratio of kids to adults. In practice that means less adult time per kid to supervise. How might that affect the rate of abuse. We know that crime rates are a function both of motivation and of opportunity. Finally, are pedophiles more likely to act out successfully if they have the cultural advantage of a cultural norm that gives adults the upper hand?

>With regard to Eugene Gold, go back and
>read the New York Times articles from the
>period. Had Gold really raped the girl,
>Tennessee justice wouldn't have let a NY
>Jew off with just probation. As the Times
>reported at the time, if you fondled a
>minor below a certain age, you were
>deemed guilty of rape.

You are completely wrong, again. He plead guilty to sexual molestation a lesser charge as part of a plea deal with probation. The aggravated rape charge was dropped after 2 years of good behavior as part of the agreement. In Tennessee, if you penetrate (not fondle) a minor below the age of 13 (here 10) you can be charged with aggravated rape (not deemed guilty of rape as you state which makes no sense anyway).

Also Gold acknowleged he sexually assaulted the 10 year old girl not once but twice.

The Times reported that according to the arrest warrant, Gold "kissed and fondled the child." He admitted to sexual assault, not penetration. In 1983 (I don't know what the law is today) Tennessee had a very expansive definition of "rape" as it applied to a minor under the age of 14.